Aeroplane.



E. L. AULT.

AEROPLANE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 23, 1910.

Patented May 16, 1.911.

Inventor Attbrneys i To all whom it may concern:

emme s'rarns arsn'r orrion.

EDWARD L. AULT, 0F IOLA, KANSAS.

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' Be it known that I, EDWARD L. An'ur, a

'. citizengof the United States, residing at Iola, in the county of Allen and State of- Kansas, have invented a new and useful Aeroplane, of which the following is a speci- "fication.

This invention relates to aeroplanes and more particularly to means whereby the lateral balance of a machine of this type may be maintained irrespective of any change in p the direction or velocity of the wind, the

motor, passenger, and any objects constituting the load of the machine, being located in such a position relative to the sustaining planes, as to automatically restore said planes to their proper positiors should they be momentarily shifted therefrom as the result of atmospheric disturbances or the like.

Another object is to provide supplemental propellersfor use in addition to the usual s driving propeller, said supplemental propfellers constituting means whereby the machine may be steered, thus obviating the necessity of utilizing a vertical rudder such as commonly employed.

A still further'object is to provide supple-' mental deflecting planes to be used in con- -nection with the supplemental propellers for the purpose of directing vupwardly against one of the sustaining planes, the air displaced by the supplemental propellers, thusfacilitating the mov'emt nt of the machine ofi of the ground at the beginning of a flight, said supplemental planes also serving as means for use in emergencies to re-' store the lateral balance of the machine when the weight of the contents of the bal-.

anoing car is insufficient for this purpose.

With the foregoing and other objects inview which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodimentof the invention herein disclosed can be made with in the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, the preferred form of theinvention has been shown.

In said drawings :-Figure 1 is a front elevation-eta machine embodying the present improvement. Fig. 2 is a section on line A-B Fig. l.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed December 23, 1910. Serial No.-598,946.

the aviator and any 1 Referring to the figures by characters of 8 being arranged at the rear end of the ma-.

chine. The shaft is driven from the motor through a chain 10 or the like. Additional shafts 1]. are journaled upon suitable bearings located on the lower plane 1 at points between the ends'of the plane and the car 4;, these shafts being equal distances from the two ends of the plane and each carrying, at its front end, a supplemental propeller 12 preferably smaller than the propeller 9 and designed foruse in steering the machine. Shafts 11 may be driven from shaft- 6 through chains 13 or the'like' and any suitable mechanism, not shown, maybe provided whereby motion may be transmitted to the two shafts 1101- said shafts may be Patented May 16, 1911.

maintained stationary during the rotation of the shaft 6.

A cross strip 14 is secured to the frame of the machine directly back of each of the supplemental propellers 12 and between the front edges of the planes 1 and 2. A sup-- pleniental plane 15 is hingedly connected at its lower edge to each of these strips 14 and an actuating cord 16 is attached to the upper end of each supplemental plane and eX- tends forward into engagement with a guide sheave 17 connected to the front edge portion of the-upper plane 2. The two actuating cords are then extended toward the center of the upper plane and pass over guide sleeves 18 thence downwardly to a point within the car A where said cords can be operated either separately or simultaneously.

It is to be. understood that under normal conditions the supplemental planes 15 are arranged as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2 so that, during the forward flight of the machine, these planes will not offer any resistance to the air. The direction of flight,

can be controlled by means of the propellers 12, it being apparent that when the, two

propellers rotate at the same speed, the machine will move straight ahead whereas, should one propeller be moved at a greater speed than the other, the machine will be caused to move along a curved path. As the load carried by the machine islocatedat a considerable distance below the center of the lower sustaining plane, itv will be apparcut that the machine cannot tip laterally without shifting the load and, therefore, should such tilting occur as a result of any change in the direction or velocity. of the wind, or from any other cause, it will be apparent that the car will operate to promptly restore the lateral balance. Should the weight of the car he insufiicient to accomplish this result, the supplemental plane 15 at the elevated side of the machine can be raised out of its normal position (indicated by dotted lines in-Fig. 2) so that the pressure of air thereagainst will tend to force said side downwardly.

While the supplemental planes are useful for the purpose of assisting in the restoring of the lateral balance of the machine, they are particularly usefulv when starting the machine from the ground. Heretofore it has been necessary to run the machine a considerable distance along the surface of the ground until the displacement of'air has been suflicient to cause the elevation of the -machine.

By setting the supplemental planes 15 so that they will deflect upwardly against the upper plane 2, the air displaced by the supplemental propellers 12, the runway necessary in order'to cause the machine to leave the ground is materially reduced.

This is due to the fact that the propeller 9,

by driving the machine forward, causes an upward pressure of air upon the two sustaining planes 1 and 2, as ordinarily. At the same time, the propellers 12 displace air rearwardly against the inclined supple mental planes 15 and these planes deflect the air against the upper sustaining plane 2.

As shown in the drawings, the machine may be provided with a horizontal balancing plane 19 supportedin'front of the planes 1 and arms 20.

What is claimed is 1. An aeroplane including upper and lower fixedly connected sustaining planes, shafts extending therebetween, propellers carried by the shafts and in front of the planes, cross strips supported above the front edge of the lower sustaining plane,

said strips being arranged close to the pro-v pellers, a supplemental plane hingedly connected to each of said strips and mounted to swing about an axis extending transversely of the machine, and means for separately shifting said supplemental planes to partly or'entirely close the space between the cross strips and the front edge of the upper sustaining plane.

2. An aeroplane including upper and lower fixedly connected sustaining planes,

cross strips fixedly supported abolye and par allel with the front edge of the ower plane and close to said plane, rigid supplemental planes hingedly connectedto the cross strips, propellers mounted for rotation in front of said supplemental planes and the lower sustaining plane, a carsuspended from 2'by means of forwardly converging the middle portion'of the-lower sustaining plane and fixedrelative thereto, said propellers being located at both sides of the car, guide devices carriedby the upper sustaining plane, andflexible means mounts on said devices and extending downwardly into the'car for shifting the supplemental planes toward or away from the upper sustaining plane to partly or entirely open or close the spaces between the cross strips and thefront edge of the upper sustaining plane.

In testimony thatI claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD L. AULT.

Witnesses J. D.'ARNETT,

FRANK R. FO REST. 

